Chris Jericho addresses the perception of the Jericho Vortex.
Throughout his time in AEW, critics have argued that talent who work with Chris Jericho get dragged down. This is often referred to as the Jericho Vortex, as the veteran’s opponents often wind up working with him for months.
Speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Chris Jericho was asked about the perceived “Jericho Vortex”.
“It’s funny how I’ve become kind of public enemy number one as a heel, by the way,” he said. “Isn’t that kind of the idea? Aren’t you supposed to be public enemy number one as a heel? Aren’t you supposed to not like somebody’s character when that character is a heel? Maybe I’m actually smarter than everyone and I’m manipulating people to what I want them to do. ‘Well, f*ck off, just retire already.’ It’s like, okay, doesn’t that make you mad?
“Because what I look at is the ratings, and nine times out of 10 my segments always go up, and there’s still some of the biggest ones on the show. So that tells me that whatever it is that I’m doing is working. But I do have a target on my back for that, and that’s once again kind of the idea, I am a bad guy on the show. So, yeah it’s public opinion, and it goes in cycles. And when you’ve been in the business as long as I have, especially at the top level, that makes people mad. I always love the concept of the Jericho Vortex and how anybody that works with me gets dragged down. Name one. Name one person that got dragged down from working with me. Maybe afterwards they didn’t go higher, but that’s not up to me. I’m not in charge of booking the entire company.”
Chris Jericho Wants To Build People Up
Jericho then made it clear that he wanted to build people up. He named MJF and Daniel Garcia, among other stars, who went to a higher level after he worked with them.
“All I can do is influence the storylines that I work on,” Jericho said. “But everybody that I can think of who worked with me certainly went to a higher level. I did a year with MJF and look where he’s at, Danny Garcia, Sammy Guevara, Daddy Magic last week comes off of commentary and gets a big pop. Who do you think put him in that position?
“All of those guys. I mean, I think Big Bill and Bryan Keith have grown by leaps and bounds from working here with me. I’m not going to go through the entire cast of characters, but I definitely know what my intentions are, and it’s not to bury anybody. It’s to build as many people as I can and give them experience so they can learn how to start shouldering things on their own.”
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